Cribbar
Live Your Life Newsletter - March 2005
Travel & Hostel Newsletter for Backpackers
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Riding the legend that is The Cribbar!
Article written By Chris Bertish for The Mail on Sunday
Some people think I'm an addict and they could be right. I started at the age of ten and 20 years later, 6,000 miles from home, I'm still looking for the next high.
Meanwhile, I am savouring the last one. It was last month, I was on a Cornish beach and I saw it coming.
It was part of a phenomenon called the Cribbar, a rare swell which forms around Cribbar Reef off Newquay - but only once or twice a year when all the conditions come together exactly right.
When they do - for an hour or two - a small section of the north Cornish coast experiences the kind of waves you might find in Hawaii.
I'm a surfer, and other surfers - or maybe skiers looking down on a perfectly fresh challenging run, or hang-gliders who find the ultimate thermal - will have an idea of how I felt riding the Cribbar.
I've lived in Newquay for a couple of years now and catching it was the undoubted high point of my time in the resort, which has become something of a Mecca for surfers.
Over the past few years, the whole surf scene has become appealing to a very broad market - and thousands of people are heading to Newquay to be part of the beach culture.
Newquay's a focal point because it has an assortment of pretty beaches with a variety of reasonably consistent waves and swell. A couple of the beaches are ideal for learners.
The town has also become a hub of the surf industry, making it really userfriendly. So anybody who wants to be part of the surf scene, to be a 'dude', comes to Newquay.
There are some really well set-up hire places and great cafes and surf shops. There are also good pubs and clubs. People come down to be part of the beach lifestyle, to see and be seen.
Those who have never tried surfing can grab a foam board and within a day they're probably standing up and telling their mates about it that night in the bar.
I don't really go out that much - I train and I surf. But Belushi's bar is really nice and the Chy bar, too. There are also some good places to eat: the Lotus Thai restaurant, Lewinnick Lodge on Pentire Headland and Fistral Blue, right on Fistral Beach.
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